Shortened SRH .454?

[Keyser Soze]

Does anyone have a shortened SRH in .454.

I have the 7 1/2" barrel but find it unwieldy in the field unless used for hunting. I have been considering having Bowen or Reeder do one of there cut down conversions. The SRH could then replace my 3" bbl 629 in .44 mag that I use as my outdoors/camping pistol.

How much velocity and power will I lose from the .454 buy having it cut to 4". Would I be better off having them cut it to 5"?


Thanks in advance

KS

PS- Maybe I should sell the SRH and buy the S&W 500 mag and cut it down instead

 

[Kahr carrier]

Theres one for sale in the for sale thread.

 

[Diesle]

What about having a brake installed...? Mag-na brake...

Diesle

 

[Keyser Soze]

Brakes make a pistol way too loud. I am just looking for some input on how much energy is lost by cutting down the barrel and whether going to 5" over 4" makes any real difference.

 

[JMLV]

bowen has a picture of a

5.5" cutdown super redhawk in his book "the Custom Revolver"
(good book get one if you can) that I like the looks of. Plan to have the barrel on my 7.5"er done when I get around to it. I like it anyway. should make the gun a bit handier to carry(it weights too much to ever be easy to carry)

 

[braindead0]

The answer to your question depends some on the ammo. I've found very little difference in 2" vs 4" barrel with .357magnum loaded with fast burning powders (Bullseye for example). (30fps loss roughly)

If the powder is 'slower' burning, which I suspect much of the .454 ammo would be... then the difference would be greater.

Does anybody make a .454 with a 4" barrel? If so, i'd guess that at least one manufacturer of ammo would have something that's suitable.

You'll lose some velocity regardless, my guess would be somewhere in the range of 100-300fps. Overall, I'd say not that big a deal when you're talking .454 velocites and bullet weights.

 

[Tom C.]

.454 SR Barrel Length

I don't have a .454, but I did have a Super Redhawk in .44 magnum that I had cut to 6". Much nicer, and it is the legal limit in MD.

 

[Keyser Soze]

I think I am out of luck on having my .454 SRH shortened.

I got this back from from Hamilton Bowen as part of some questions I had.

Thanks for your inquiry.

At this writing, we are not assured that we can remove .454/.480 SRH bbls. without excitement and will not be able to offer assistance with barrel shortening.

I then found this in the Gunnotes portion of his website.

Which brings us to a few general observations about the new .480 and .454 Super Redhawks. There are two considerations to bear in mind when contemplating custom work on these guns. In our experience so far, it is nearly impossible to remove the barrels from these guns (at least the .454's). There is considerable evidence of thread galling/welding/melting which could just as easily occur in the receiver as the barrel. So, we are very reluctant at this writing to shorten barrels because they cannot be remove without the potential for receiver/barrel/finish damage. This means that we cannot recylinder the new .480 Super with a 5-shot part to accommodate both the .480 and the Linebaugh cartridge. All of our current .454 and .475 Super Redhawks are built on the .44 Super which has proven a dependable and trouble-free candidate for such work.

The other difficulty in working with the new-style Supers is the finish. We do not know quite what it is or how to match it which has considerably dampened our enthusiasm for working on the guns. About the only way to refinish them in the trenches is to bead blast off the battleship gray paint and apply a frosted matte finish. We will probably consider performing our basic 'Standard Issue' pkg. on these guns but only with the understanding that we cannot be responsible for the finish. While damage is extremely unlikely, it would entail a trip to the factory to repair. In any case, we expect to decide on this shortly.

I guess I should have researched this and built up a redhawk. I was looking forward to having Bowen do the work. He make some fantastic revolvers of the highest craftsmenship.

 

[Diesle]

Dude, dont fret. Call Mag-na. They can and will do the barrel shortening for you. They will do it with the barrel on the gun. And remount the front site.

And yes, they will recomend that you get their velvet finish (beaded). Ends up looking like frosted stainless.

Diesle

 

[Wildalaska]

Well not to be out of line here, but a chopped up 454 is surely doable.......

 

[Kahr carrier]

SWEET.

 

[DE50]

Here is some info that I posted in the For Sale section when asked about my 3.5" Barrel RSH 454:
"....The 7.5" barrel did not balance well in my hand. I wanted it for a backpacking / close range gun and almost no one wanted to do the work because it is difficult to remove the barrel. Magnaport is one of only a few 'smiths that will shorten the barrel (a couple of other well known 'smiths will not do the conversion because of the high potential for frame damage). Essentially, the conversion is either a success or you end up with a destroyed Ruger RSH 454. The 'smith who did the conversion is in Arizona and he told me that this was his first and probably last conversion due to the difficulty of removing the barrel.

As for how it shoots, I can tell you from light to heavy loads it is a "push' that the shooter will feel where as my short barrel Freedom Arms will roll high in the hand or over your head with heavy duty loads ( depending on your grip). One nice thing about the SRH 454 is that the "shock" seems to be contained within the rubber grips compared to the Freedom Arms (you can feel it on the steel frame with the wood grips)...."

I was originally looking to have a 3" conversion but no-one could do it, at that time at least. There is a 3.0" or 3.1" that might be completed in the next month or so. As for the fps per second loss, it depends on the type of powder used and / or if you will be using factory ammo.